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Thursday, March 24, 2016

Spring Snowstorm

Spring snowstorms are the worst, at least in my opinion. I'd take them over a fall snowstorm though because it'll be gone in a short amount of time but the spring storms are unpredictable, just like this last storm.

Last week about now, I was preparing for the Tri-State Horse Expo (I'll write about that more later), and Dad mentioned that we were supposed to get a storm later in the week. I was so focused on getting through the weekend that I didnt' pay much heed. Of course, we DID get snow on Saturday, which had me in a total panic. How in the world do you get a white horse clean when you have no heated wash bay? Luckily, I'd spent Thursday afternoon getting Zeke washed (by hand and with warm water in buckets).We do things the old fashioned way.

After all the commotion from the Tri-State Horse Expo, I started hearing more rumors about this upcoming snow storm. I figured I'd better start paying some attention when rumors of a foot of snow were flying around. I spent two hours Tuesday night getting everything prepped for what snow we would get (and weren't really sure how much). At one point, it was 1-3 inches, at another it was 4-7 inches, and at another it was 12 inches. So I figured, I'd better be prepared. Because not only were they talking snow, they were also talking rain.

And of course there were two models they were looking at, and couldn't decide on how much rain versus snow we'd get and where exactly it would all land. I know meteorology isn't an exact science but I wanted to be prepared for whatever came our way.

They had also said it was going to start Tuesday night. It didn't. It didn't' even start until Wednesday late morning. But I was prepared. Water troughs were completely full, hoses were put away, and almost everyone was wearing a blanket (I'd opted to leave them out instead of stalling them). of course farther north (by about eight miles), they got hammered with snow so we missed out on the worst of it!

So the rain/snow didn't start until Wednesday super late in the morning and it was more of a sleet/rain than snow. In fact, we didn't' get real snow until late afternoon. But I was sure glad I had blankets on everyone. It wasn't cold but that wind hurt when the little pellets of snow/rain hit you in the face.

I did opt to pull Rabbit, Mayhem, and Junior into stalls in the hay shed. The wind was coming out of the north east and they have no where to go. Unfortunately, that pen doesn't have a shelter. Junior's face was caked with snow and Mayhem was almost soaked to the skin. I wasn't sure how cold the temps were supposed to be so I figured I'd sleep easier knowing they were in their stalls dry and warm and out of the wind. They were more than willing to go. When I went out to let them out this morning, it was dark and I forgot my flashlight. I heard rather than saw them but I only saw Mayhem's blaze, I didn't see Junior or Rabbit. That's because they'd curled up and were snoozing whenI walked over to let them out. I'm sure that Rabbit's foot is bothering her and Junior just wanted to rest. It's nice knowing they are comfortable enough to lie down. They weren't really all that thrilled to leave their stalls. Unfortunately, it was cold enough that the water froze in their 100 gallon water tank. I smashed it open with my foot and ended up plunging my foot half way into the tank. Thank goodness for water proof boots (and that I used the right leg instead of the other one, which has a hole in it!... time for new boots...if I can find them on clearance).

It's supposed to warm up again in the next couple of days. I doubt I'll have the opportunity to sit and watch the snow melt like I did after the last storm. I'm also not sure if this will be the last snowstorm or not. We do still have all of April to have storms, even though we are officially into spring. I'm not complaining, it's moisture we need to keep our pastures going. I was afraid we were going to go into a drought if we didn't get more rain this spring. I don't want to face another drought.

But I'll be pulling blankets off today and getting them dried out in case we have another wet snowstorm roll through. Spring storms are so crazy. We even had thunder and lightening. I'm not ready for the hail, strong winds, and potential tornados that come with spring/summer storms, but I am ready to see some green and get moving on some outside projects.